Avenged
by Ergo Ipso Facto
Summary: FE9, chapter 27. Not everyone's happy with the way things turned out at Nados. In fact, Shinon is on the brink of doing something very stupid. Now, if that obnoxious sub-human would just let him get on with it...


The Black Knight was dead – or at least, having castles dropped on you wasn't something most people could shrug off. No one had found a body or anything. Of course, no one had tried. It was a lot easier to just heap praise on Ike like they'd been doing all along, completely ignoring the fact that he'd needed some damn _magic sword_ to pull it off. Shinon found himself wishing the Black Knight would come out of the ruined castle and give someone else a crack at him.

It wouldn't be that hard. You might need a blessed sword to scratch his armor, but you didn't need one to shoot him in the face. The bastard's helmet had to have eyeholes, and unless they were _blessed_ eyeholes –

Honestly, the whole thing sounded so stupid and ridiculous it was almost like Ike had made it up himself. He could claim he wasn't after the glory 'til he was blue in the face, but Shinon wasn't buying it. Not with all this ridiculous celebration in the camp and this – this damn blazing sunset. He was blaming that on Ike, too. Of course the sky would arrange to look breathtaking when it got the chance to shed light on some glorious victory of Ike's. The whole damn world revolved around that brat, and it liked to make sure you didn't forget it.

He looked back toward the camp. Ike and Mist were still just standing around looking tired and bewildered, and every so often Mist would randomly hug her brother and start sniffling. And the mercenaries were eating it up, because this was their hero they were looking at, the great and wonderful General Ike, who'd finally gotten around to avenging their _real_ leader. And the rest of the Crimean liberation army, the ones who'd never even met Greil, were still happier than they had any right to be. Yeah, from now on they could brag about how they were taking orders from the guy who'd beaten the Black Knight, but none of them had any real idea –

It was a fluke, anyway. A joke. This whole thing. Greil should never have died in the first place. That son of a bitch the Black Knight should never have been able to touch him. And then to lose to Ike, of all people? Where the hell did he find the nerve? It was an insult, an insult to the memory of a great man, and no one even cared. Titania, Gatrie, Rhys – he'd expected better of them. They were the old guard. They knew –

Even Oscar seemed to have forgotten that it was Greil and not this snot-nosed pup who'd saved him and his brothers. They _knew_, dammit! At least, they were supposed to.

Shinon looked away in disgust. He stared at the sun – it was a lot easier.

They couldn't settle for this. This wasn't how you went about avenging someone, locked up in a back room with no witnesses but your kid sister and a half-dead sub-human. It wasn't _right._

He looked at the ground. The after-images of the sun's light seemed to spell out _Shinon you are an idiot you set yourself up for this why did you come back what did you expect._

Why _had_ he come back?

…Well, Rolf, mostly. And Rolf was doing fine. He'd gotten pretty good. He'd found someone else to hound lately, too – that guy in the white armor. Tauroneo. Former Daein general, possibly an old friend of Greil's depending on who you believed (not that he asked _too_ many people. Wouldn't want it getting back to Rolf).

He started walking. He never really made a conscious decision to leave, but that was what he was doing, wasn't it? You put one foot in front of the other for long enough, and at some point –

Wings beat on the air, too heavy and too close. He had an arrow nocked before the sound had even reached his brain, and he kept it trained on Janaff through the hawk's descent. He didn't recognize that it _was_ Janaff for a few more seconds, but on some level he'd probably already known. Say what you would about sub-humans, they usually didn't go out of their way to bother him. Except for this one.

"What's going on here?" the sub-human said in that presumptuous way he had. Like he had a right to know. Like he even had a right to be here running his mouth.

"You're about to get shot." The arrow was still leveled at Janaff's heart.

The hawk considered this, then stepped forward, shrugging. "I've had a good life. Shoot."

Shinon already knew he wasn't going to release, and he already knew exactly the expression that was going to be on Janaff's face. That stupid smirk.He lowered the bow. "So what?" he muttered, avoiding the sub-human's eyes, searching for some justification that wouldn't look like weakness. "Shouldn't surprise people like that. Next time, I'm gonna do something you'll regret."

Janaff rolled his eyes. "All right, all right, now we've got all the formalities out of the way, so now you can tell me this isn't what it looks like."

"I don't have to tell you anything, birdbrain, now get lost."

"Well, no. But then I might have to assume the worst and take matters into my own hands."

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you, birdbrain?"

"'Birdbrain…' Did you make that up all by yourself, or did your mother help you?"

"Shut up, half-breed."

"You shut up, you human scum."

"_Sub_-human scum."

"Jerk."

"Nosy idiot."

"Prettyboy."

_"What?"_

"Yeah, I said it. How much time do you spend on your hair every morning, anyway?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You're not thinking of deserting, are you?" said Janaff.

The sudden change in subject caught Shinon off-balance. "What if I am?"

Janaff raised an eyebrow. "I'd probably have to tell Commander Ike."

Shinon narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't make it five steps."

"That's what the wings are for."

"Don't even think about it. This is between me and him."

Janaff glanced back at the camp. "Well, maybe I should tell him, then. He's not paying that much attention to you right now. Maybe he doesn't know."

Shinon glared resolutely at a spot just left of the hawkman. "He knows."

"Have you been taking lessons from Kieran or something?"

"Who?"

"Never mind." Janaff sighed. "You really rub people the wrong way, you know that? But I was serious the other day. I'm pretty good at giving advice."

"Oh, are you?" Shinon sneered, out of force of habit. Sure, a few days ago they'd reached some kind of truce, where Janaff offered advice and Shinon very generously didn't dismiss the idea out of hand – at least, that was how he remembered it – but that didn't mean anyone was supposed to bring it up ever again. Giving up his lifelong hatred of laguz was not a priority. He didn't make a habit of giving up _any_ lifelong hatreds – you got used to having them around.

"Yes, actually," said Janaff, buffing his fingernails on the front of his tunic.

"Good for you," Shinon said flatly, and resumed walking.

"Hey!" Janaff shouted. "You jerk."

"Never heard that one before," said Shinon, before remembering that he hadn't meant to answer. You were supposed to ignore Janaff until he shut up and went away, otherwise you'd somehow end up talking to him about things he had no business knowing. He was tricky like that.

"Come on, tell me what this is all about. You have to admit, this is a really weird time to leave. Melior in reach, the Black Knight dead –" Shinon stopped. Janaff took this as an invitation to keep jabbering. "Things are looking up. It's going to be tough, but – you're Crimean, aren't you? Don't you want to be there when –"

"Half Begnion," said Shinon, "if it's any of your business. Which it isn't."

"But you still live here!"

"I can live anywhere."

"What about your friends?"

Shinon snorted. "What friends?" Bad question. Now he was wondering how Gatrie was going to take it. They'd left together last time. "I mean…" He finally turned to face Janaff. It was pretty obvious he wasn't going to escape easily at this point. "That's his problem."

"What about the little guy? Rolf?"

"He's not that little anymore. He can handle –"

"Really? How old is he?"

"Twelve, maybe? Thirteen?"

Janaff looked horrified. "He's a _baby._"

"And a dead shot. Look, I already told him things like this were going to happen. It's part of being a mercenary."

"But this has nothing to do with being a mercenary. This is just about you randomly sneaking off in the night like a total jerk. And you still haven't even told me why."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"You hate Ike, I get that part, but think about everything he's accomplished lately, especially today. Hasn't he proven himself at least a little?"

"No," Shinon said hotly, "absolutely not. If anything –" He cut himself off. He was not going to discuss this, not with Janaff or anyone else.

"If anything…?" Janaff prompted.

"Nice try. We're through here."

"All right, then I'll just have to guess. Is it that you resent him for being so successful?"

"He's not successful."

"And, ah, how exactly is he not successful? He's winning this war."

"I don't care."

"Yeah, I think we've established that."

"Maybe it bears repeating. I. Don't. Care. Got that into your hollow skull this time? There's nothing you can say or do to stop me, so save your breath."

"There's nothing you can do to stop me, either."

"An arrow through the throat should do the job."

"Like you would."

"Try me."

Janaff smiled calmly. "I already did."

There was no appropriate response other than a heartfelt "Dammit."

"Come on," said Janaff, all friendly reasonability. "You're missing all the fun. Unless that's what you're deserting over." He looked thoughtful. "I know some people don't like parties, but this is a little extreme."

"You're pretty slow, aren't you? Of course I don't want any part of that. It's all for Ike."

"Well, yes, but… alcohol."

"You really think I'm that simple-minded?" Janaff didn't answer. Shinon scowled. "I'm not. I haven't lost sight of what's important. Maybe everyone else has, but I won't forget."

"What do you mean, 'what's important?'"

He'd said too much. "Forget it."

"But –"

"Leave me alone."

"But I'm curious now."

"Three words."

"You don't care?"

"Right. Now quit wasting my time." He watched Janaff, waiting for him to leave. He wasn't going to be the one to back down.

And, surprisingly, the laguz did turn like he meant to walk away. It looked like that was that, until he said over his shoulder, "You know, Greil chose Ike. I would've thought you'd trust his judgment. Oh, well. You beorc are –"

That was the last straw. "You miserable half-breed _bastard! _He didn't choose to die!"

"You had to know it was going to happen eventually."

Janaff was baiting him, he knew, but even so there was no way he could let this pass. "Not to Commander Greil. He was the best."

"So Ike's the son of the best? I don't see any problem here."

"Blood's not good enough. You damn well know it isn't." He was shuddering with rage. "Or maybe you don't. Well, I'm not going to explain it to an ignorant sub-human like you. Get out of my sight."

"All right, I'll just tell Ike you're deserting. It probably won't go over too well at a time like this, but that's just your style, isn't it?"

"What do you mean, 'a time like this?'" Not that there was any real question. By now Shinon was just looking for a fight.

Janaff turned to face him again, looking – what was that expression? Smug? "You're pretty dumb. I mean now that Greil's finally been avenged. Everyone seems pretty happy about it, and here you're going to make me go ruin the mood."

He'd expected to get angrier, once Janaff had said what he was obviously thinking. Maybe it would come to blows. Instead it felt like the bottom had dropped out, like he suddenly didn't have the will to be properly furious anymore. "Avenged. Sure. By Ike. You expect me to be happy about that?"

"I don't expect you to be happy about anything. I know better than that."

"Guess that's true."

"Of course it is! Didn't I say I used to be a lot like you?" Janaff shook his head. "That's why I'm so curious about what's going on here. I know if you thought about it a little you'd realize this is a terrible idea." In fact, he'd already done that. Janaff had delayed him long enough that he'd come up with all sorts of holes in his plan or lack thereof, but that was just a nuisance, not enough to stop him. A stupid idea, maybe, but still the right one. "Am I going to have to mention Rolf again?"

"Shut up," Shinon said wearily.

"He doesn't call Tauroneo his uncle, you know."

"Stop spying on him."

"You first."

"I'm just keeping an eye on him to make sure nothing happens. Stop spying on me."

"I'm just keeping an eye on you. Maybe you should stop being such a troublemaker."

"Don't you have more important things to do?"

"Naturally. You should be flattered."

"Spare me."

For a while neither of them spoke. Then Janaff said, "I figured this would have something to do with Greil."

"Got me all figured out, huh," Shinon muttered sourly. "Yeah. It's Ike and his damn heroics, all 'this is something I have to do myself.' Like Greil's only dead in his world and not for anyone else."

"Well, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who minds."

"The others… all accepted Ike as their leader. So when he killed the Black Knight, he was fighting for all of them, too. But not for me. And he went ahead and killed him anyway, and didn't leave me anything. Of course I'm pissed off."

"Are you trying to say you have more right to revenge than Greil's own son?"

"Yeah, and? What's your point?" He crossed his arms and didn't look directly at Janaff. "I mean, sure, he raised Ike – of course you're going to take care of your own kid. But Gatrie and me didn't have anywhere to go, and we were just a couple of cocky idiots back then. He didn't have to hire us. He could've given up on m – on us any time, but he didn't. Ike just got lucky when it came to being born. Me? Without Commander Greil, I would've been dead years ago. I don't know why I'm telling you this," he said as an afterthought. Janaff didn't answer. "Anyway, now you know. I'm out of here."

"You wouldn't have been able to beat him anyway."

"You think that makes any difference?"

"No, not really." Janaff sighed. "I'm going back. Come with me."

"I don't think so."

"What about Gatrie? Rolf? That priest?"

"Rhys," said Shinon. It was a stupid, simple trick, and Janaff had last used it less than five minutes ago, and damned if it wasn't working. Again. He could feel his resolve weakening. "Screw you."

Janaff shrugged, and then frowned and said in a low voice, "You know I can see practically everything. I checked out the ruins – didn't find a body."

"Probably not much left to find. A castle fell on him. That's a bit more than a flesh wound."

Janaff rolled his eyes. "Stop thinking about it! I'm giving you an excuse not to leave, and you know you want one, so play along, would you? You beorc are so ungrateful."

"What? You expect me to thank you? You haven't done anything but pry. You're not changing my mind, either."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Well, I would."

"You don't know when to give up, do you?"

"Look who's talking."

"Stubborn idiot."

"Stupid featherbag."

"The ladies love my feathers, I'll have you know."

"Still stupid."

Janaff stared at Shinon for a moment, then shook his head. "You're right. I have more important things to do. And hey, you go on and leave. It's not like anyone's going to be that surprised to find out you're a little more of a jerk than they thought."

"I'm not just doing this out of spite," said Shinon. "I have to…" What? What was he going to do? He hadn't been too impressed with Daein and he despised Begnion too much to even consider it. He could always just disappear until the war ended, but then it would have to be over soon – you could only live so long on hunting and the knowledge that, even if you weren't right, you were less wrong than everyone else.

"Whatever," said Janaff. "I'm not the one you need to explain that to."

Damn it all to hell.

Begnion, he thought, Begnion would be fine. If he could just bite his tongue and make things work out somehow, it wouldn't be all that bad. No more Ike. No more outrages like this, no more wondering how much longer he'd be able to put up with –

No, that wouldn't really change. He would still hate whomever they put over him, still look for excuses to point out how _a real commander wouldn't –. _Because the only man he'd ever respected was dead. Nothing would change that. At some point he was going to have to accept that there was nothing he could do. And it didn't matter where he was when that day came.

"You might want to hurry it up there," said Janaff – why the hell was he still here, anyway? "It's getting dark."

And it was. Ike was still hogging all the glory, but at least the atmosphere was no longer rubbing it in. Shinon went back. Rolf was going to ask where he'd been; Gatrie might not have noticed he was gone yet. He'd come up with some story or other. He hadn't gotten very far, he realized, and that annoyed him.

"This never happened," he told Janaff as they approached the outlying tents.

"What never happened? Why would I even be talking to someone like you?"

"Good."

He went back to the Greil Mercenaries. Rolf asked where he'd been. Gatrie hadn't noticed he was gone. He said he'd just gone for a walk, and everyone left it at that.

He knew these people. He could live with this, with the fact that Ike hadn't even had the decency to change the company's name, and he might even be able to put up with Ike himself. Maybe. He could always leave later, maybe once the war was over, assuming he didn't get killed. There would be plenty of time to think about it then, but he was done thinking for today, and he wasn't going anywhere.

And even though he was sure Janaff had been putting him on, if there was even the slightest chance the Black Knight was still around… Well. Next time would be different.


End file.
